The Psychology of Color: The Meaning of Colors in Design, Advertising, and Marketing

Imagine the yellow color. What is your first association? This is definitely a lemon. No wonder we expect a yellow-colored drink to be sour. Colors cause us to associate products with objects and phenomena, some associations coincide with people and entire nations. Color also helps us navigate the world. Try it yourself - choose a Skittles candy with your eyes closed and determine its taste. Most likely, blindly, this will not be so easy so do not underestimate the importance of color.

How Does Color Psychology Work?

Colors evoke associations in a person, sometimes you may not even realize it. There are primitive associations, for example, blue resembles the color of the sky and water, and green is the color of plants. These associations are the same age as humanity and are applicable in almost every corner of the world.

But there are associations that have appeared in society over time, they can vary in different cultures and even disappear over time. In addition, the perception of color is influenced by age, gender, experience, context, and personal preferences. It is impossible to please everyone, but the psychology of colors will help you understand what associations and therefore emotions certain colors evoke in most people.

If yellow drinks seem sour to us, then in green drinks, some participants in the experiment felt the aroma of mint or the taste of tarragon, even if there were no additives. Red and orange drinks often seem sweeter. Color even affects our perception of time. Sites in cool colors seem to load slower. And these are just a few examples of hundreds of studies that prove that color not only evokes certain associations but can also affect perception.

The other colors can encourage you to action. For example, using red in your shop can increase the probability of impulse purchases. You can try to include several red objects in your shop and track the result using cash flow management. Over time, you’ll notice improvements in your income.

The Meaning and Psychology of Color in Marketing

Knowing the meaning of color will help create the desired image of the company, increase sales, and inspire confidence. Ten years ago, the McDonald's chain of eateries began to rebrand - signs began to change from red to green, and interior decoration materials from bright plastic to those that imitate wood and metal. The company did this for the brand to be perceived as more environmentally friendly and natural. Of course, color has become one of the many components of the strategy.

Below is compiled a list of key associations that will help you navigate the choice of color depending on your goals:

1. Red

+ Fire, love, sex, power, heat, and strength

- Blood, fear, pain, threat, danger, and war

In many Asian countries, red symbolizes prosperity, happiness, and good luck. And in almost all nations, red means passion and love.

This color is suitable for the food industry. It should be used more carefully in the field of security and real estate where it can scare away with its aggressiveness. Red is a bright color and in large quantities can irritate, cause aggression. But to draw attention to an important topic, red is suitable, for example, it will look appropriate on a poster that calls to become a blood donor.

2. Yellow

+ Movement, joy, sun, fun, warmth

- Illness, betrayal, jealousy

In China, yellow was considered a privilege of the imperial family. Now they call pornography a yellow book, and a film for adults is called a yellow video. In Japan, yellow is a symbol of courage, in Brazil it is a symbol of despair, in Syria and Mexico it is associated with death.

Some shades of yellow look cheap and are good for inexpensive products. This color is appropriate in the field of entertainment and suitable for children's brands. It should be used with caution in combination with black. This combination of colors can cause alarm because it is often used in warning signs of increased radiation, high voltage, and biohazard.

3. Green

+ Peace, tranquility, life, growth, harmony, nature, youth, freshness, health, purity

- Treason, envy, boredom, weakness

In China, green symbolizes new life, hope, but also infidelity. In China, a man in a green hat is a man whose wife is cheating. In India, green is peace and hope. In Ireland, it is associated with luck.

Cold green will give freshness, because of its association with mint. Green in combination with natural beige and brown colors makes the image of the product more environmentally friendly. This technique is often used by cosmetic brands in packaging to evoke an association with nature and show that the product is natural.

4. Blue

+ Trust, loyalty, consistency, serenity, security, universe, space

- Coldness, callousness, isolation

Perhaps blue is one of the safest colors that doesn't cause bright negative associations in any culture.

Blue is a calm color that can be safely used in the technological and financial fields, as well as medicine. It is well suited for corporate documents. Dark blue is the most neutral of the colors in the spectrum and is good even for designing products that will have many other shades, such as Facebook social networks. While blue color is good for cleaning products (gives association with cleanliness), blue food can make it less appetizing.

5. Black

+ Night, mystery, sophistication, elegance, security, power, authority, luxury

- Coldness, anger, danger, depression, mourning, darkness, aggression

For most peoples, black means darkness and death, and for the tribes of the arid regions of Africa, rain clouds, which means good news. In modern European culture, black is not only a symbol of darkness and death but also elegance and aristocracy.

This color is suitable for those brands that want to emphasize sophistication and show that the product is expensive. So do the brands Hugo Boss and Chanel. Even top-quality teas and sweets are often packaged in black boxes. It is better to avoid this color for the design of goods for children and seniors. For children, this color is too boring. For seniors, it may seem too gloomy. You should also be careful with black because it can be associated with aggression.

6. White

+ Purity, innocence, solemnity, peace, tranquility, freshness

- Excessive sterility, coldness

While in most cultures white signifies truce, luxury and is used to dress the bride, in China white is the color of mourning.

White is ideal for minimalist brands and those cases when you need to combine a lot of bright colors. It's like a photographic passe-partout - with the help of white, you can add sophistication to the most vivid color photographs.

The Bottom Line

When choosing a color for design, it is important to take into account not only the meanings of colors, but also the audience, its age, gender, interests, and lifestyle. Associations with colors and the psychology of colors depend on these factors. When entering the global market, it is important to reconsider brand colors and take into account the characteristics of the culture of the audience and the meaning of color in their culture.